2008 Woodie Awards
Sex-slave trade in United Kingdom
Landry Haarmann
Issue date: 3/30/07 Section: World
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Two hundred years ago, British Parliament decided to abolish slavery and the trade.
Despite the illegal status of slavery, a recent investigation by British police has shown that it is still present in 21st-century England, albeit in a form different from forced physical labor.
The present victims are often women from overseas, who are sexually exploited and forced into prostitution.
Sophomore Kat Siladi, who recently participated in "The Vagina Monologues" and played a "comfort woman," women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, was very struck by the reports of forced prostitution.
"It's a microcosm of the treatment of women in Western society," Siladi said. "There are many overlying problems and, to stop human trafficking, we must also address the issue of verbal abuse at home, because they are both ways to dominate women."
The young women, nearly half of whom are between the ages 18 and 25, are tricked into coming to England, often by a boyfriend under the guise of finding work. The women may also be kidnapped or forced to go to England.
According to The BBC, in 2003, as many as 4,000 women were trafficked into the U.K. for sexual exploitation.
Sophomore Jen Banich was most surprised by the fact that human trafficking, or sexual slavery, was happening in Britain.
"I've only ever heard of sexual slavery in Asian countries, so I'm a shocked that this is going on in England. But, no one deserves that kind of life," she said.
According to The BBC, most of the girls come to England from Eastern Europe, West Africa and South Asia under the belief that they will find better lives. Others arrive in England thinking they are on a vacation.
That is what happened in the case of Jiera, a 19-year-old from Lithuania.
Jiera said to The BBC that she and a friend thought they were headed to England for a vacation only to discover when they arrived that they were being sold into sexual slavery.
Despite the illegal status of slavery, a recent investigation by British police has shown that it is still present in 21st-century England, albeit in a form different from forced physical labor.
The present victims are often women from overseas, who are sexually exploited and forced into prostitution.
Sophomore Kat Siladi, who recently participated in "The Vagina Monologues" and played a "comfort woman," women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, was very struck by the reports of forced prostitution.
"It's a microcosm of the treatment of women in Western society," Siladi said. "There are many overlying problems and, to stop human trafficking, we must also address the issue of verbal abuse at home, because they are both ways to dominate women."
The young women, nearly half of whom are between the ages 18 and 25, are tricked into coming to England, often by a boyfriend under the guise of finding work. The women may also be kidnapped or forced to go to England.
According to The BBC, in 2003, as many as 4,000 women were trafficked into the U.K. for sexual exploitation.
Sophomore Jen Banich was most surprised by the fact that human trafficking, or sexual slavery, was happening in Britain.
"I've only ever heard of sexual slavery in Asian countries, so I'm a shocked that this is going on in England. But, no one deserves that kind of life," she said.
According to The BBC, most of the girls come to England from Eastern Europe, West Africa and South Asia under the belief that they will find better lives. Others arrive in England thinking they are on a vacation.
That is what happened in the case of Jiera, a 19-year-old from Lithuania.
Jiera said to The BBC that she and a friend thought they were headed to England for a vacation only to discover when they arrived that they were being sold into sexual slavery.
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